This recipe comes from my Great Aunt Mary (my grandmother's younger sister; Aunt Katie was her older sister). I have a child's memory of Mary, which consists of the following facts:
1. She had a Craftmatic adjustable bed
2. She always had some ailment
3. An entire wall of her dining room was covered with clear glass jars filled with homemade candy
Needless to say, we loved going to Mary's house. She cooked and baked like a demon and made the most amazing and delicious candies. I don't remember these cookies specifically, but anything that came out of Mary's kitchen was pretty damn good.
Note that the ingredient list on the right is simply a doubling of the list on the left. And no, I'm not exactly sure what nuts & bits are. One can only hope that the "bits" are the chocolate chips, since that particular key ingredient isn't listed elsewhere. I'd leave out the nuts and just put in half a cup of bits, because of my anti-nuts-in-cookies stance.
As to directions, I supposed you'd cream the sugar and shortening in a mixer first, then add the vanilla and eggs, and then slowly mix in the dry ingredients.
And then there's that Crisco thing again. I'm sure many words have been written on Crisco vs. margarine vs. butter, but I don't know the details of the debate. All I know is that I never have Crisco in the house so I tend to use butter, although I know many bakers swear by the texture that Crisco imparts. I think it looks gross -- it's too white and shiny.
A blend of 1/2 butter and half butter flavored Crisco works best. Cookies will have a nice texture and not flatten too much when baked.
Posted by: Melissa | December 03, 2010 at 04:33 PM